Sugar Rush ~ Bday Fun!

Whewwww...whirlwind of a day. It began early for a 9:30am bday breakfast for Miss Maddie.

She is the bittiest little one year old I've ever seen, it's too cute! Her mamma, Nic & I made the adorrrrable "ONE" letters, complete with round wooden 'ears' & a bow to resemble Minnie Mouse (the party theme).

And per mommy's request I made her a big fluffy, 2-toned pink tutu...and was going to make the headband - but then I found one with matching 'shoe' socks at Ross for basically cheaper than I could make it - so that was perfect!

Happy Birthday Madeline Grace!!

Unfortunately, Kapri had started sneezing yesterday....which got me worried...and for good reason. By 11ish, she had used up what little energy she had and her body gave in to this oncoming cold...I'm sure all the sugar from the doughnut holes, fruit, juice & a cupcake surely did not help. It was time for a nap.

After her nap...she felt 'okay' - so we decided with our original plan & headed to another friends house for to celebrate Arden's 6th birthday. Kapri has known Arden her entire life, starting with weekly beach walks when she was a baby, to being cared for once a week for a few hours at their home at 4 months old... and play-dates in-between, and seeing each other dressed up on at our annual Halloween party at work.

how cute are they?!

Upon arrival K definitely did not seem 100%...so we gave it an hour, snapped this really cute pic somehow, then had to go...her little lungs get so irratated with an oncoming cold...and lucky us, we didn't have her inhaler. When she started complaining that her chest hurt, I panicked and I drove as fast as I could home. Thank goodness for the nebulizer & albuterol meds....though I hate how much we depend on it during sickness...it really is a life-savor.

Happy Birthday Arden Rose!!

Later, we were all supposed to go to a THIRD party - for James' dad's retirement party...

CONGRATS ANDY!!!

But with K's condition not improving, I knew she wouldn't be able to make it through. We thought about having my sis watch her while James & I went...but she got worse, so I stayed home while he went. We were definitely sad to have missed it, especially since her cousins who she loves tremendously, had made the trip out from AZ to be there as well....and since I had made him the above photo collage.  But the most important thing was to get K rested & feeling better ASAP.

Oh the ups & downs of parenting...

Street Fair Preppin

With just under a week to go - here's some booth prep I've completed...it's been a LOT of work, but I couldn't be more excited!!

Before/After of our old changing table to use for extra shelving at the fair:

I found this mini faux-bird/water fountain at Michael's for 60% off - score! I thought it'd be perfect to display my biz cards, especially since it has some height to it, compared to most biz card holders:

Bird Cage Display Rack I found at Kohls.com...love this rustic look...came with the clothes pins too!

I had searched all over Pinterest for ideas on a 'directional sign' - I was thisclose to buying one for $30 + shipping... until I realized that I could probably throw something together myself. So I journeyed to Home Depot & picked up two 2x8 pieces of wood. Of course their saw wasn't working that day {*sigh*}... but at least that meant I got a discount, hehehe! While checking out, I sent out an 'SOS' on Facebook, asking if anyone had a saw I could use... exactly .5 seconds later I found my helper - a good friend of ours who lived down the street & offered to come by & help - yay!

He ended up pretty much cutting & putting the whole thing together - which left me with the 'tough' chore of paint...yippee! It took about 1 hour start to finish (including 2 coats of paint) and cost less than $15!

Oatmeal Container Headband Holders - now I've done something like this before, about 2 years ago... but loved this look wayyy more than my past attempt. I made two of these 'headband holders', covered in burlap, glued to a wide-rimmed shallow vase from the Dollar Tree, and glued little 'sola flowers' on the top - so cheap & easy to make!

My vinyl sign from Vista Print:

My bags with labels & "thank you for your purchase" card - made by moi:

My pocket apron:

And finally, a simple preview of our setup when I did my trail-run the other day:

Side note - cute thing Kapri said to me during all this work and prep, taking over our house:

K - "Mommy...I'm proud of you"

Me - "Oh really...proud for what?"

K - "for all your hard work on the street fair."

Me - "aww toots, that's so sweet, thank you!"

Love that kid.

CAN'T WAIT!!!


**Others not pictured in this post, as they are in past posts:

• Mini Chalkboard Stands (for price displays)
• Thrift Store {and other re-purposed items} Makeovers (using LOTS of white spray paint!)
• DIY Tree Branch Display (lots more spray paint!)

Craft Weekend - Part 3 {Thrift Store Upcycling}

Wish I had more thrift stores closer to home...I really love finding inexpensive treasures that I can repurpose in my own way, to fit my needs. "One person's junk, is another person's treasure" - right? This particular thrift store visit was during my lunch break... I spent around $25 for 13 items: 2 wire 'displays', 3 multi-height candlesticks, 3 multi-sized wooden baskets, 3 flower-like bowls and 2 small plates.

All of this to be used for my upcoming street fair booth display coming up in April!!

I couldn't wait to get it all home to start priming & painting these fabulous finds...all white. That's my color-theme for my booth, since all my CfC products have bright, vibrant colors. I sprayed & waited...and sprayed & waited literally ALL. WEEKEND. LONG.

But it was so completely worth it!

I knew I wanted to transform the candlesticks into tiered displays...using stove burner covers found in packs of 2 at the Dollar Store. I traced them onto 3 different, but coordinating pieces of scrapbook paper, then mod podge'd the top of the covers & laid on the paper. Then I used E6000 glue to join the cover & the candlestick.

I think they turned out beautifully!

I then turned the bowls & plates into 2 little display stands as well, again just using E6000 glue to join them:

I'll probably use each for my business cards and some fabric button rings:

I had also found this 2-tiered wicker basket at Kirklands Home a few weeks ago, on sale for $8...and sprayed it white.

And this old chalkboard was actually from my childhood...NO idea how or why it still resides with me...but it was collecting mega dust in the garage - so I gave it a facelift!

And do you know what this is??! We donated the other 'half'...forgetting all about this piece that had been put away behind things...forgotten about for many months now. James even tried to put it out with the garbage...but the trash collectors didn't take it, haha! I think it was a sign that it was meant to have another purpose. So... this crib rail will now serve as a perfect display piece, to hang onesies & tutus from at the street fair!

Linked up to:

Ginger Snap Crafts

Someday Crafts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Craft Weekend - Part 2 {Mini Chalkboard Stands}

So, I don't think I've mentioned on here that I've signed up for the FIRST time, to have a booth & sell my Custom from Calista products at a local street fair in April - I'm SO excited and SO nervous at the same time. It's the last weekend in April, but I'll only have my booth set up on Sat. the 27th - if you're in San Diego...come see me! It's in Encinitas, on Hwy 101.

This past weekend was spent creating a few display items for my booth.

First up - Mini Chalkboard Price Display Stands:

A few months ago I scored a few packs of little wooden 'plaques'...that I knew I somehow wanted to use on  my table. And I knew I wanted to cover them in chalkboard paint.

Then I saw THIS pin {via Little Bit Funky}...and knew my mini plaques would be perfect for this craft! 

So I headed to my home-away-from-home (Michael's) and picked up a pack of wooden wheels and a pack of pre-cut wooden dowels that fit the inside of the wheels perfectly. Kapri was so excited to help me glue each dowel into the holes (some are a bit crooked, but they still work!)

Then I painted them all white, glued on a little jewel on top, then began to glue on the mini plaques. But - they fell over....UGH...fail. I wanted them to be tall :-(

Solution?

Cut about 4" off the top:

Perfect!!

I LOVE THEM! Hope they hold up well during the street fair...fingers crossed!

They'll be the perfect way to advertise the cost of all my items I'll have on sale! And after, they could be great for dinner parties or birthday parties...so fab!

Linked up to:

Ginger Snap Crafts

Someday Crafts

Craft Weekend - Part 1 {Hot Glue Gun Holder}

Gobs of hot glue go wasted many evenings in my craft space (aka: the kitchen counter)... I'm always scraping them off after each craft I complete. And those annoying little invisible strings of glue that feel like spider webs - oye! Hot glue is a huge part of a crafter's existence, yet it's unbelievably messy at times. For me at least.

So imagine my surprise when I stumbled on THIS little wooden gem on Pinterest {via Shanty 2 Chic}...I thought to myself: "holy smokes, I can MAKE that!" - and I did.

And I'm pretty damn proud.

And the annoying little gobs of hot glue are now contained in one place, on one little plastic square - making my clean up a cinch!

Supplies I Used (see above blog link for the full tut):

before paint

• 3.5" x 9.5" piece of wood - I found mine at Michaels, 2 thin pieces came in a pack for about $3 (I used wood glue to put them together)
• Wooden dowel - again from Michael's, less than a dollar...cut 2 pieces, each to about 5" high
• Small block of wood, cut to size (had at home, but originally from Home Depot)
• Clear plastic square - again from Michael's for about a $2 (I added a piece of scrapbook paper to the bottom)
• Paint (I made that teal color from blue, green, & white acrylic paints that I had on-hand), hot glue, thin ribbon, & a drill (to make holes for dowels)

Happy Glue Gun Crafting!!

Linked up to:

Chef in Training

Sugar Bee Crafts

Skip to my Lou
Ginger Snap Crafts
Someday Crafts
Serenity Now